How to delegate in a window and door company without losing control

Problem: the owner does everything, works 14 hours a day and the company grinds to a halt if they fall ill.

Solution: a delegation system with written autonomy levels, a daily voice report and a weekly meeting.

Result: 8 hours a day freed up from low-value tasks, with real control over what is happening.

The owner who couldn't switch off

A window and door specialist in Northern Italy with about ten employees. A company that is ticking over nicely, at least on paper.

"I'm at the office for 6.30 and I don't leave before 20.30. Saturday mornings I always work. Sundays I reply to customer messages."

A typical day: morning checks emails, replies to customers, calls suppliers, goes out for a site survey. Mid-morning the site foreman calls about a problem with a subframe. He decides how to fix it. Lunch in the car. Afternoon: quote, material orders, phone call to a customer. Evening: invoices, accounts, planning.

I asked him: "Of these tasks, how many can only you do?"

He thought about it. "The site survey with a new customer, the quote on complex jobs, the decisions on major problems. The rest... in theory somebody else could do."

"In theory. And in practice?"

"In practice I do it all myself because the last time I tried to delegate it went disastrously."

The delegation that fell apart

The attempt 6 months earlier. The site foreman, with him for 4 years, a good fitter, precise, reliable. The owner had decided to delegate the "management of the job sites" to him.

One morning he told him: "From today, you manage the job sites. If you need me, call me."

After 3 days, 12 phone calls a day. For every decision, even the tiniest. "The customer wants to move a window 5 centimetres, what should I do?" "The glass arrived scratched, shall I send it back?" After 2 weeks: "Leave it alone, I'll do it."

The owner's conclusion: "He is incapable of managing job sites on his own."

My conclusion: he didn't have the tools to manage them. They are two very different things.

Why "you do it" is not delegating

Delegating does not mean telling somebody "you do it". It means building a system where the person knows exactly three things: which decisions they can take on their own, which ones they need to communicate, and which ones they need to stop and ask about.

Without that information, the site foreman is in an impossible position. If he decides on his own and gets it wrong, the boss gets angry. If he calls to ask, the boss loses patience. Whatever he does, it is wrong.

The problem is not the person. It is the absence of a system.

The 8 hours a day the owner throws away

The real value of an hour of the owner's time is not their salary. It is how much that hour generates when they use it for high-value activities: closing a contract, negotiating with a strategic supplier, building relationships with architects that bring in major jobs. For a company of this size, at least 70 €/hour.

Eight hours a day on 25 €/hour tasks, done by a person who is worth 70 €/hour.

The system that worked: three pieces

The written autonomy levels

An A4 sheet with three columns.

Decide alone. Sequence of works. Team distribution. Minor technical adaptations. Consumables orders under 120 €. Team hours.

Decide then inform me. Variations that don't change the price. Delays under 2 days. Problems solved at no extra cost.

Stop and ask. Impact on the budget over 300 €. Delays over 2 days. Customer complaints. Variations that change the price. Safety problems.

That piece of paper, laminated and kept in the glovebox of the van, eliminated 90% of the phone calls.

The daily voice report

Every evening, 60 seconds of voice message. Fixed format: job site status, problems, decisions taken (with reference to the column).

The owner listens to it in one minute while driving home. If something is wrong, he calls. If everything is fine, he doesn't have to do anything.

Before: 6-8 phone calls a day, 60-80 minutes. After: 60 seconds of voice message. An hour a day won back.

The 30-minute weekly meeting

Every Monday morning, always the same four points:

1. Status of active job sites (on track, delayed, problem)
2. Open problems requiring a decision by the owner
3. Plan for the week (who goes where, deliveries, new job sites)
4. A number: actual vs estimated hours on every job site

30 structured minutes that substitute all the impromptu meetings, the weekend phone calls, the "let's touch base" chats that lasted an hour and a half.

BAU Gest

Delegate with control using BAU Gest

BAU Gest shows you the status of every job site, the real versus estimated hours, and any open problems. You know everything without having to ask.

See how it works

Swiss
Made

BAU Gest

Net margin24,2%

Active jobs8

Hours deviation+12%

What changes after 3 months

With more free time, the owner has gone back to doing site surveys that he previously couldn't find the time to manage. He has re-established ties with architecture studios he had been neglecting. He has stopped throwing quotes together in a rush at 9pm and his average margin has risen 3.5% because he no longer makes rushed mistakes.

The three things that make delegation work

The boundaries must be written down, not spoken. The laminated sheet of paper in the glovebox works. "I told you so" does not. It sounds basic, but it is the difference between 12 phone calls a day and 1.

The flow of information must be structured, not on demand. The boss shouldn't have to ask "how's it going?". The information arrives of its own accord, every evening, in a predictable format.

Control should be via the numbers, not via presence. You don't pitch up on site to check if the boys are working. You look at the actual vs estimated hours on a Monday morning. If the numbers are on track, all is well. If they are over, you step in.

What happens when you do not delegate

The company turns over a healthy amount, but the owner is destroyed. They have no life outside of work. They have no plan for when they will want to slow down. If they are sick for a month, the company stops. And the paradox: the more the company grows, the more the owner is crushed. Without a system of delegation, growth becomes a trap.

If you see yourself in this story

Do one thing this week. Grab a piece of paper and write down everything you do in a day. Put a 'D' next to the tasks that somebody else could do. Add up the hours with a 'D'.

If you want to build a delegation system that works in your company, book 30 minutes with us. We'll look at your situation, your figures and the people you have on the team, and we'll tell you where to begin. No obligation, no contract.